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Akin Puts Fate in Evangelical Hands

Fending Off Pleas From GOP Politicians That He Exit Senate Race, Missourian Turns to His Voter Base to Regain Support

By

Douglas Belkin

Updated Aug. 22, 2012 4:02 p.m. ET

ST. LOUIS—After enduring a 48-hour shellacking by local and national Republican politicians, who asked him to quit his bid for the U.S. Senate, Rep. Todd Akin fanned the flames of a grass-roots backlash from his evangelical base Wednesday in hopes that he could change the narrative of his troubled campaign.

Mr. Akin, attacking "the party bosses" who are calling for him to pull out and condemning the "liberal media" for twisting his words, went on national television Wednesday morning and defiantly vowed...

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